


We are Flesh

by edema_ruh



Series: Delivered from the Blast [5]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Blood, Emotional Hurt, Guilt, Gunshot Wounds, Hurt/Comfort, Mind Reader Enjolras, Superheroes, Superpowers, Worry, also i want them to be the same age, but i think they'd be cute twins, coming to terms with emotions, i know gavroche and azelma arent twins, theyre just a bit younger than éponine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-31 08:50:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6463678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edema_ruh/pseuds/edema_ruh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Enjolras comes to terms with his feelings and regrets his actions; Jehan meets a new superhuman and things don't go too well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We are Flesh

Moving into the country house took more convincing than Enjolras had expected to. 

He knew this whole superpower thing was too sudden. He knew they hadn't had these powers for too long, but still, it was better if they stuck together. With people like the power-absorbing woman on the lose, they couldn’t afford another one of them being kidnapped. 

That was why Enjolras sent Bahorel and Bossuet after Grantaire. 

Of course, that was the only reason. Or so Enjolras told himself. 

_(It wasn’t the only reason. But if he tried to deal with this whole emotional thing_ _right now, he would get distracted. And that's another t_ _hing_ _he couldn’t afford)._  

After a couple of two hour long meetings and a lot of convincing, the Amis accepted to temporarily move to the camp house, at least until they were sure the powered woman and her henchmen had been taken care of and they were no longer in life-threatening danger. 

Which brought up the subject of how they would stop dangerous powered people. That was an issue Enjolras had promised to think about but absolutely forgot in the whole Grantaire-running-away situation. Now, as he and his friends moved into the nearly empty manor, the kept wondering about what they would need to build to have a slight chance of stopping superhumans. Of course, Enjolras could keep them unconscious until a solution was found, but what if there were too many criminals and no solution at all? He wasn’t sure how many people he could keep unconscious at the same time. 

After taking his small suitcase to his room and settling his things as best as he could, Enjolras decided to go check on his friends. Some of them were still uncomfortable about going so far away from the city – they wouldn’t  abandon their jobs under any circumstances, which meant taking a trip nearly thrice as far as they normally would to get to their works. But they all knew that, with enemies as powerful as the ones they had made, they would need to lay low for a while. 

"Hey Joly", Enjolras greeted, knocking on the half-open door of the room the young doctor had claimed for himself, Bossuet and Musichetta. 

"Hi, Enjolras", Joly greeted, unpacking his things. "Come in". 

Stepping inside the bedroom, Enjolras stood uncomfortably in front of the bed. 

"So, did you need anything?" Joly asked, still not looking at Enjolras. 

"I'm sorry about taking you so far away from your job", Enjolras said. "You know this is only a temporary solution. Just until we stop those criminals". 

Joly scoffed. 

"There will always _be_ criminals, Enjolras. Unfortunately, you can't stop all the crime in the world". 

"But not all criminals know who we are", Enjolras sighed. "I'm not asking you to do something you don’t want to. I'm not asking you to be a superhero. I'm just asking you and all my friends to stay here, where you're safe, until we can take out the people who can hurt us and the ones we love". 

"You'd know a lot about hurting the ones who love you", Joly muttered, so low that Enjolras couldn’t understand him. He decided against reading Joly's mind without his consent. 

"Anyway", Enjolras continued, somewhat embarrassed. "I was wondering if you could help me with something, when you have free time". 

"What do you need?" Joly asked, finally finishing to put away the clothes inside the wardrobe. 

"Well, I was going to ask you to run some tests", Enjolras explained. "Since you are a doctor. Maybe you should check if the incident that gave us powers altered us genetically, if the effect could be duplicated, how to neutralize it, that kind of thing. I can provide you whichever equipment you may need, just give me a list. Combeferre has already agreed to help". 

Joly frowned. 

"Well, if you can provide the material that's great", he started. "But why do you need this research?" 

"We need to understand what we're dealing with if we're going to build these prisons", Enjolras said. "If we can find a way to neutralize superpowers or at least diminish them, half of our problem will be solved". 

"But you'll still need someone to build the cells", Joly crossed his arms over his chest. "And, unfortunately, none of us are engineers. Like, not even close", Joly laughed. 

"That shouldn’t be a problem", Enjolras smirked. "I already have an idea. But can I count on you to do research?" 

"Well, of course", Joly nodded. "Even if it's only to understand a bit more about us. But may I ask, who is this engineer you think of contacting?" 

"You'll see", Enjolras smiled, as he turned his back to Joly and exited the room. 

- 

"No way!" Éponine yelled. 

"Éponine, if you'd just listen-", Enjolras raised his hands. 

" _No. Way_ ", the girl repeated, arms crossed and eyes impassible. 

"We need them", Combeferre said beside Enjolras. 

"They're our only chance", Coufeyrac supplied. "There's no one else we can trust with this". 

"You're not bringing my siblings into this mess!", Éponine protested. "I barely managed to control them when I was normal, imagine what's going to happen if they start walking around with powered people!" 

"You said yourself Gavroche and Azelma are brilliant", Enjolras refuted. "They may not have graduated yet, but I'm sure that after their project last year they are more than capable to help us". 

"That was something entirely different! They're just kids, they shouldn’t be building cells to stop super people!", Éponine threw her hands in the air.  

"We need to stop these super people in particular", Combeferre added. 

"Would you rather these criminals find out who you are and kidnap your brother and sister to blackmail you? Would you rather that woman touches them and hurt them?", Enjolras asked. 

Éponine seemed to hesitate at that, glaring at Enjolras. 

"They'll find us eventually, 'Ponine", Courfeyrac said. "They'll come after us. That woman will steal all of our powers if she can. You saw what she did to Cosette and to Enjolras. We can't let her lose around the city". 

"But Gavroche and Azelma can help us stop them", Enjolras said. "They can help us stop anyone else from being hurt. And they'll be protected here in the manor". 

Éponine was biting her lower lip, still looking like she didn’t like the idea. 

"They're just kids", she said, not looking at Enjolras. "They're barely even 20". 

"We'll protect them", Combeferre assured, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I promise you". 

"Joly and Combeferre are going to start a research on superhumans using our blood", Enjolras said. "If you can get them to come by, I'll get anything they need to develop the cells, then they'll be free to go away from this whole mess". 

Éponine sighed, looking angry but resigned. 

"Alright", she said, after a few tense moments. "But if anything happens to them, Enjolras, that's on you". 

"Nothing bad will happen to them", Enjolras said. "I can assure you that". 

- 

Bossuet and Bahorel returned a day later, and it was clear they hadn't found Grantaire by the way they were looking. 

"Nothing?" Joly asked Bossuet, fidgeting around his boyfriend in worry. 

"Nothing", Bossuet sighed. "We searched in every bar he frequents, and the ones he doesn’t. We went to the studio and the gym and even his ballet class. No one has seen him for more than a week. Me and Bahorel are going to talk to some of his friends tomorrow, but you know how R is. If he truly wants to disappear, he'll be gone without a trace", Bossuet sent a half hearted glare towards Enjolras. "What about you? See anything?" 

"No", Joly shook his head, disappointed. "I haven't had a vision since... the Musain incident". 

"I'm sure you'll get something", Bossuet reassured, placing a sloppy kiss on his boyfriend's forehead. "We're gonna find him, don't worry. I'm gonna take a shower", Bossuet said, giving Joly a quick peck on the lips and heading towards the bathroom. Enjolras ignored the second glare he received from the man as he passed. 

"Why does everyone seem to be so angry at me?" Enjolras asked Combeferre later that night. He had promised himself he wouldn’t look into anyone's mind without permission, no matter how much he wanted to. He frowned in confusion when his best friend sighed. 

"They're worried about Grantaire, that's all", Combeferre responded without looking up from his anotations. He had already collected blood from all the Amis – except for Grantaire – and had already begun his studies with Joly. 

"I'm worried about him too, but I'm not being hostile to anyone!", Enjolras protested. 

Combeferre set his notes down, sat up straight and pushed his glasses back in the way he always did when he was about to give someone a lecture. 

"They blame you for Grantaire's disappearance", Combeferre explained. 

"I figured that", Enjolras said. "But why are they all so angry? I'm doing all I can to bring him back to safety. I don’t even understand why he left in the first place". 

"Enjolras", Combeferre sighed. "If the conversation you had with Grantaire went precisely as you told us, then you said somethings that... simply didn’t need saying". 

It was Enjolras' turn to frown. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Everyone was aware of Grantaire's feelings for you, ever since the beginning". 

"When... when did it start?" Enjolras asked, wary. 

"I presume it was the first time you two ever met". 

Enjolras scoffed. 

"That's four years ago!", he laughed. The seriousness on Combeferre's face made his smile die. "He's... he's had feelings for me for four years?" Enjolras asked in horror. 

"Yes", Combeferre nodded. "Which is why telling him you won't ever give him a chance, therefore destroying all the hope he had put together for four years, can be a hard blow. Grantaire never knew how to deal with his emotions properly, Enjolras. But what he feels for you is certainly more than a crush, and there is a reason why he never told you how he felt". 

"Why is that?" Enjolras asked, feeling terribly guilty. 

"Maybe deep down he knew you'd never feel the same. Maybe liking you from afar and never being reciprocated was better than having his fears confirmed and his hopes destroyed". 

Enjolras was silent at this, lips shut tight forming a thin line. 

"What is done is done, Enjolras", Combeferre continued. "You can't change the past. What you can do now is apologize to Grantaire for dealing so harshly with his feelings, and hope for the best". 

"I... I will do that", Enjolras said. "I didn’t know. I thought it was just an infatuation, a... a crush. I didn’t read his mind far enough to be aware of how... how deeper it went". 

"Well, maybe you shouldn’t have read his mind at all", Combeferre shrugged. "There are reasons why people don’t share certain things, my friend. Try and remember that on the future". 

"I know", Enjolras lowered his head. "I promised him, I wouldn’t read anybody else's mind without permission anymore". 

"That's a good start. Maybe you two can finally sort things out now you're clearer with each other". 

"I just hope we find him", Enjolras commented. 

"We will", Combeferre squeezed his hand. "I'm sure we will". 

That night, as Enjolras lied on his bed and did his best to block out his friend's thoughts and dreams, he thought about Grantaire. 

Oddly enough, he missed the man. Whenever Grantaire was around, he annoyed Enjolras – it was like a special talent. He always made sure to mock whatever Enjolras was saying, or to complain about his supposed naivety, or to explicitly expose his lack of belief. Whenever Grantaire was around, Enjolras couldn’t wait for the man to go away and never come back, to leave him alone for good. But now that Grantaire actually left, Enjolras missed him. It was like removing a stone from inside the shoe, the weird absence after the stone's departure. Except the departure didn’t bring him any joy or relief, instead, he couldn’t help but to think about Grantaire. Was he somewhere safe? Was he in full control of his abilities? Was he drinking himself to death? Was he even _alive_? 

A deep, dark part of Enjolras kept trying to convince him to look for Grantaire's mind – it always seemed to be easy to find it, even amongst thousands of other minds in the city; it was almost as if Grantaire's mind _called_ for his -, to find it and discover where Grantaire was. _Grantaire_ _will never know,_ his inner voice said. _You can find him and bring him here and spare Bossuet and_ _Bahorel_ _of more trouble. Your friends will stop being mean to you and they'll trust you again. They'll look up to you again. Do it. Look for_ _Grantaire_ _._  

But Enjolras had made Grantaire a promise. He would never look inside his head without permission again. 

Trying to ignore Grantaire's absence and the hollow space that it left on his chest, Enjolras turned on his side and tried to get some sleep. 

- 

 A week and a half after Grantaire's disappearance, the Amis had the first prototype of a superhuman cell. 

Gavroche and Azelma had both been furious at their sister for not telling them she and her friends had superpowers, but agreed to help anyway. Joining brains with Joly and Combeferre, the four worked for days on research and development until the first prototype of a cell was delivered to Enjolras. 

"We're going to need this", Azelma handed him a two-page long list. "Can you get it?" 

"Yes", Enjolras replied, barely checking the list. It had too many technical terms that he wouldn’t understand anyway. 

"Wait a bit, though", Gavroche said. "Won't your daddy find it weird to see a lot of this equipment on your shopping list? Apparently the last thing we need is to call people's attention, and buying this super specific material looks like calling attention to me". 

"Don’t worry", Enjolras assured. "The money my father has won throughout his life cannot exactly be called _clean_. I know how to buy what you need without calling attention". 

"Whoa, man. Doesn’t that go against your morals or something?" Gavroche frowned, mockingly. Somehow, it reminded Enjolras of Grantaire. The leader tried to pretend his heart didn’t sting a bit at the resemblance. 

"I'm doing what I must to make sure people are safe", Enjolras explained in a monotone. 

"Spoken like a true politician", Gavroche replied, serious. 

"Gav, enough", Éponine interrupted with her older sibling tone. "Is there anything else you need to give Enjolras?" 

"Nah. That's all", Gavroche said, turning his back dismissingly and walking away. Azelma lingered by, unsure of whether she should follow her twin or stay with her older sister. She decided for the former, giving Enjolras and Éponine an awkward goodbye wave and walking away. 

_"No wonder why_ _Grantaire_ _always said he looks like marble"_ , Enjolras overheard Gavroche whispering to his sister. 

"If you're waiting for me to tell you something reassuring you'd better sit down because it's not happening", Éponine told Enjolras.  

"I'm not", Enjolras said. "Waiting for you to say something reassuring, I mean".  

"Good", Éponine replied. "You'd better go shopping, pretty boy. These equipment won't buy themselves". 

"Yeah, you're right. See you, 'Ponine", Enjolras said as he walked away. 

After he made sure all the equipment was bought under different names – he knew it was wrong, he knew it. But he wasn’t hurting anyone. He was just trying to protect people – and had a delivery date settled, Enjolras allowed himself to relax. Everything was going according to plans. His friends were learning more and more about their superpowers and still managed to go on with their daily lives, no superhuman attacks had occurred since the Musain, they were about to build a super prison on his basement and help to stop crime on their city. Everything was perfect. 

Except it wasn’t. 

Whenever Enjolras spoke, he subconsciously paused after voicing a strong opinion, waiting for a scoff or a laugh. He couldn’t help but to do it; in fact, he never even realized he did this until there was no one else to interrupt anymore. He was always left awkwardly mute in front of everyone, trying to figure out what to say next without anyone to argue with.  

On the night the Amis decided to go drinking – a week after Grantaire's disappearance -, he sat quietly at the table, by himself, and no one noisily pulled him for a dance or drunkenly begged him to go sing on the karaoke.  

Even now, as he lied alone on his bed, he missed the anxiety he always felt when he knew there was something big going on and Grantaire could bring it down with his arguments in less than a minute. He missed Grantaire's constant gaze, always locked on him. He missed Grantaire's attention, even if it was just to complain about the cause. He missed Grantaire's loud thoughts screaming at him. He missed Grantaire. 

Enjolras regretted having that conversation with Grantaire, hurting his feelings and destroying his hopes like he did. Had he known the nature of Grantaire's feelings – he had had them for four years! That had to be serious, hadn't it? -, he would have never dismissed them as a simple crush. He should have thought better before he did anything. And what he regretted most was telling Grantaire they would never be anything other than friends, because given the way his heart tightened in his chest whenever he remembered the man's laugh, Enjolras _knew_ he must be experiencing something more than just missing a friend. 

It took losing Grantaire for Enjolras to realize he had feelings for the man. 

It wouldn’t be fair to call it love – not yet, at least. It was still too soon, too recent to be something as strong as love. But there was definitely something there, growing slowly inside Enjolras's chest, consuming most of his thoughts and making him ache all over from Grantaire's absence. He could barely concentrate anymore, and the only thing that scared him more than the possibility of losing Grantaire forever was the possibility of accidentally projecting his secret feelings to his friends. 

Enjolras had nothing to be ashamed of, of course, but he would prefer to discuss his feelings with the object of his affections first. There was no reason to go telling his friends about something he couldn’t even be sure that would actually happen. There was no way of knowing how Grantaire would react to the big news. Enjolras hoped it would end in a kiss, but knowing Grantaire was as unpredictable as the weather, it could end up on another argument. 

He was on the middle of this rush of inner thoughts when someone barged into his room with a loud puffing sound. He was so caught up in this revelation of feelings that he looked up, frightened, and saw a paralized Jehan standing in the middle of the room. 

He was staring at Enjolras, wide eyed, and both his hands were covering something on his belly. His face looked more pale than Enjolras had ever seen it. 

"Jehan? What's wrong?" Enjolras asked, propping himself up on the bed and slowly getting up. Jehan opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Then suddenly his eyelids fluttered close and his legs gave way, and the poet's body fell back. His head would have hit the floor if Enjolras didn’t manage to grab him on time. 

Jehan was unconscious on Enjolras' arms, unresponsive, and Enjolras noticed the gunshot wound on his belly. The blood was spreading fast, already tinging Enjolras' fingertips red, and he sent a mental cry for help to all his friends. In less than a minute, Combeferre barged into his room, followed by Bahorel and Feuilly. 

"Oh my god", Combeferre muttered, kneeling beside the pair and pulling Jehan's floral shirt away from the wound to check it. "What happened?" 

Enjolras didn’t have time to explain, so he projected his memories to Combeferre's mind. The man nodded, understanding, and tore Jehan's shirt in half. 

"Get Joly, quickly!", Combeferre instructed a dumbfounded Bahorel the same time as he applied pressure to the wound. "Tell him to go to the lab and get things ready; Enjolras, project what you're seeing to Joly so he knows what he needs!" 

Enjolras nodded, instantly finding Joly's already worried mind and projecting what he was seeing to the doctor. Feuilly and Courfeyrac got to the room then, both surprised, and Combeferre asked for Feuilly's help to carry Jehan to the lab. 

Before anyone else could ask Enjolras what had happened, he projected what he saw to everyone in the house, sparing time that could be used finding out _what the hell had happened_. As he followed Combeferre and Feuilly through the halls, he tried to get inside Jehan's head and see his recent memories. 

Looking through Jehan's eyes as he checked his memories, Enjolras saw the public city library, where Jehan had been finishing an assignment for one of his classes. Jehan picked up his stuff and left, ready to grab his Vespa and go to the manor since it was already late. As he exited the building and walked to the parking spot, he sensed someone walking closely behind him. 

As he turned around to see who it was, everything went dark. There was nothing wrong with his vision, since he could still see his hands and the sidewalk when he looked down. It was as if a black fog had engulfed him, blocking him from seeing everything else around him. He tried to walk through it but was physically repelled, falling on his butt on the cold sidewalk. So Jehan did the only thing he could think of – he teleported away.  

Reappearing on the other side of the street, Jehan got up to his feet and spotted the dark fog dissipating and turning into a man. It was too dark for Jehan to spot a face, but it was definitely a superhuman whose abilities were to turn into a black fog. He decided to teleport away to the manor; he could pick his Vespa up later. Right now, he needed to warn his friends. He needed to warn Enjolras. 

A gunshot echoed in his ears at the exact same time he teleported to the manor. It wasn’t until he found himself on Enjolras' bedroom that Jehan felt the pain. 

"Enjolras?" Bahorel asked him as he stumbled, nearly going face first into a wall. 

"Sorry, I was finding out what happened to Jehan", Enjolras explained, blinking rapidly. 

"And you know who did this?" Bahorel asked, tensing up and looking ready for combat. 

"Yes", Enjolras replied, looking angry. "I want you and Feuilly with me. We're going to the city library". 

"Ok", Bahorel replied, cracking his knuckles. Feuilly nodded at Enjolras, walking away to wash Jehan's blood from his hands. Behind them, Combeferre and Joly worked incessantly to save Jehan's life. "What are we up against?" 

"A superhuman that turns into a thick black fog", Enjolras explained, projecting Jehan's memories onto Bahorel and Feuilly's mind. "I don’t think he was the one who shot Jehan but whoever did it, was with him. And I think I know who sent them". 

"The vampire woman?" Bahorel asked. 

"Yes", Enjolras replied. "Feuilly, are you able to eject the energy you absorb into something?" 

"I've only tried it a few times, but yes, I can do it", Feuilly crossed his arms. 

"Then absorb as much energy as you can", Enjolras instructed. "We're going to fight against the dark". 

**Author's Note:**

> So, part 5 is here as promised! I know this isn't as good as the previous ones, but that's because I had to split it in two otherwise it would get too big haha. But don't worry, part 6 is on the way and it's better!  
> Thank you so much for reading this, kudos and comments make my days, and constructive criticism is always appreciated! ♥  
> You can always find me on edema--ruh.tumblr.com


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